Are you qualified for mentorship?

All this week in a continuation of the mentorship series, I’m going to talk about qualifying for mentorship.

Qualifying?

Yes, I said qualifying.

This is one of those things folks just seem to have a hard time understanding.

They think because they are employed somewhere that their boss is required to mentor them.

False.

Your boss supervises you but they don’t have to mentor you. Consider it a great perk of your employment if your boss mentors you.

People believe that because they are in a church the pastor or pastor’s wife is required to mentor them.

False.

Please consider it a great honor and privilege if your pastor takes the extra time and care to personally mentor you. Your pastor is entrusted with the leading of the flock the primary role of which is training and equipping however they do have a choice of what and who to focus on within that area.

Mentorship doesn’t happen because you just show up somewhere. You have to qualify.

If you are thoroughly confused by now and wondering what in the world I’m talking about and perhaps even getting a little irked, you really need this series.

The first thing I’ll encourage you to do is pray. Ask God to prepare you for qualification. Seek Him in leading you to the right mentor/mentors, and ask Him to prepare your heart to receive.

Comments

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This year at the Stronger Conference, a young minister stopped me as I was walking out of the room at the conclusion of a workshop and she said, "I want to tell you something..." (I was all ears.) She said, "Do you notice how many of the speakers this weekend are saying, "Now, I'm just being transparent when I tell you..." or "I'm just keepin' it real..." I nodded yes. In fact, I mentioned that I was one of those speakers. I think I probably said a few times in both my keynote message and my workshop that I was just "keepin' it real."

After I affirmed that yes, I had noticed that -- she said, "Do you know why they have to do that? They do it...and you do it, because so many people don't keep it real. So many in leadership aren't transparent, Deanna. That's why all these people speaking here feel an urge to declare their transparency.." I let her know that usually when I say, "I'm just keeping …

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As I was preaching at the Fearless Tour at New Hope Assembly of God this weekend, I got choked up, literally. For probably 2-3 minutes I coughed profusely and greatly struggled. Then I drank some water and kept preaching. Everyone was gracious to give me a few moments to get my bearings. If you were there, you'll remember it!

What no one realized at the time was that I swallowed a bug that flew right in while I was preaching! So disgusting! I said nothing because I was at a point in the sermon where I was really connecting and I knew if I said, "I swallowed a bug," everyone would either laugh profusely or be really concerned, or start feeling sorry for me. And at that point whey wouldn't be thinking about the message anymore, but the fact that I had just swallowed a bug. They would then imagine what it would be like, and feel grossed out which is u…

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It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way.
Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory!

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Deanna Doss Shrodes

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